Clarksville High School is hoping for some good news when the Arkansas Activities Association's board of directors has its meeting for selecting basketball tournament sites this afternoon in North Little Rock.

Clarksville is one of four schools hoping to become the host of the Class AAA Region 3 tournament, which will be held during the week of Feb. 21-26. Also vying for that tournament are a trio of Pulaski County schools - Central Arkansas Christian in North Little Rock, Little Rock Christian and Pulaski Academy in Little Rock.

"We tried hosting tournaments often when we were in Class AAA before," Clarksville athletic director Gary Thompson said. "We called around to other schools in our conference, and nobody else was sending in a proposal. We would be happy to keep the tournament in this part of the world.

"We hope we have a better chance of hosting the regional tournament than the Little Rock schools. I understand the other (6AAA) Conference hosted the tournament last year. In the past, when one conference hosted a regional tournament one year, they (AAA) would let a school in the other conference host the tournament the following year."

In order to host a regional or state tournament, schools must offer a minimum of 90 percent of gate receipts to the AAA with their bid. Thompson said Clarksville's bid would allow the AAA to receive all of the gate receipts.

"As far as money is concerned, hosting a tournament like this really doesn't help the school district," Thompson said. "But we do try to sell T-shirts and programs and receive concessions. What it really does is help our athletic booster club, as well as the city with all the teams coming in here.

"We like to show off our town because it's always been good in supporting our school's athletic teams. Having a tournament like this will be a boost to restaurants in Clarksville, as well as the motels. We also have a new fine arts center and the new Marvin Vinson Center, so there's a lot to look forward to if we can get the tournament here."

Thompson stated that Clarksville's teams, as well as teams from other area schools, will benefit from having the tournament close to home, as well as have extra incentive to make it to regional play.

"It will be a big help because those teams will be playing on a familiar floor," he said. "I'm sure it's an advantage to teams whose school is hosting the tourney, but teams in our league is going to have to fight hard to get there. This is a very balanced league this year."

The following is a list of schools or organizations who have submitted bids to the AAA to host other various basketball tournaments this year and await their outcome at the 4 p.m. meeting: